Flavoring
by sorcerousfang
Summary: Yako decides to teach Neuro a little bit about emotions. Oneshot


**Disclaimer: I don't own Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro. If I did, I wouldn't have ended it yet.**

**sorcerousfang: Hey, peeps. Random idea here. Yes, this means I'm still having problems with Deep Water (for those of you who are waiting for that update, I'm sorry. I really am trying).**

**Sesshomaru: No you're not.**

**sorcerousfang: You were NOT supposed to read that part...**

**Sesshomaru: But I did.**

**sorcerosfang: ...yeah...anywho, I figured this little tidbit could stand alone as a little oneshot thing, though I plan to _eventually_ throw it into a story that I _eventually_ plan on writing. _Eventually_...Regardless, this is your little taste of it for now. Expect to reread it later in the much larger story it should go into. It's an important part in explaining why they take the case that they do. Let me know what you think. And yes, I am hinting at YxN a little. Just a little.**

* * *

"Human emotions mean nothing to me," Neuro stated dully, flipping a page in the book he was skimming.

Yako looked at him.

"It is your job to handle the unraveling of the human heart to draw out the mystery, not mine," he continued, decidedly bored with this topic of conversation. He was beginning to tire, and stifled back a yawn caused by the combination of uninteresting reading material and lack of a good meal. "Thus, I need not consider them."

Her frown deepened, forcing her to set aside her obento as her appetite suddenly disappeared. When Neuro spoke like that she couldn't help the feelings that welled up in her chest; an annoying mix of sadness and anger and total emptiness that didn't make sense when wrapped up into one being. She'd thought about it at times, his lack of interest in human feelings, and steadily drew her own conclusions on the matter.

Today, she would voice her opinions.

"Well, maybe it's about time you did," she said slightly more bluntly than she had meant to as she stood.

Neuro fixed her back with a look of displeasure until she discarded what was left of her food. How unusual; Yako was quite infamous for her large appetite. Not finishing a meal was quite unlike her.

She went on before he could question what she meant.

"Haven't you ever thought about why mysteries are different here compared to hell?" she questioned him, forcing herself to keep from turning around to face him. He would probably not like the look on her face. "I mean, for someone so smart I figured you would have figured it out by now."

Neuro's eyes narrowed. Was she…questioning his intelligence?

Once again, her voice reached his ears before he could interject, and he was far too interested in what she had to say now to stop her from speaking.

"Emotions, Neuro," she said, and something in her voice made him lean forward just slightly. "What makes the mysteries the way they are, they're emotions. I guess you could think of it as flavoring for your food, like someone adds herbs to fish to make it taste better. Without them…your mysteries would be as bland as the ones you escaped from."

Emotions…as seasoning?

"So, maybe you need to start considering people's feelings. You don't have to understand them, just acknowledge that they exist and that they affect people," she finished, her voice cracking on the last few words.

Neuro hadn't thought of it like that. Being unable to comprehend their existence let the notion escape his thoughts. Yako, it seemed, had a very good point on this matter, which was usual when it came to emotions. Why, though, did she seem to think that now was a good time to bring it up?

His reverie lasted too long. By the time he refocused on the present, the door slammed shut behind the young girl, leaving his mind blank as he realized she had something to say beneath those words that he wasn't aware enough to consider.

"_Well maybe it's about time you did."_

He didn't like the way those words repeated in his mind.

Three days went by. Nothing whatsoever. No phone call, no visit, no e-mail or any other form of communication. Yako just seemed to have…vanished.

Although vanished wasn't the right term, because Neuro had seen her go to school, watched her go home, and seen her on the second day when she paused at the train station, seemingly undecided for a moment as to whether she should get the ticket to take her home or to take her to work. Ultimately, he never approached her about her sudden absence. Some annoying little pressure on his chest was overriding his hunger pains enough that he felt it would not be wise to do so.

Now he sat in the office, staring at nothing in particular, while Godai sat very tense at his own desk. Yako's absence left an undeniable…emptiness in the space, causing even Akane to droop. The animated braid of hair once tried to get the attention of the demon, but he seemed lost to the world around him and caught in some kind of world all his own.

"Damn it, Monster! I'm tired of you looking off into space like an idiot!" Godai finally snapped. "Go find her and apologize!"

And so servant number two disappeared behind the door.

Neuro looked on lazily for a moment before turning his unsmiling gaze on his secretary.

"…Are you going to reprimand me, too?" He questioned her, and the braid shook a moment before gathering up the courage to type her own response.

"**She's waiting for you,"** she typed quickly.

Neuro blinked.

"…Why is she waiting for me?" he pushed her. Had she sent a message to Akane that the braid hadn't mentioned?

"**It's just the way girls are. You wouldn't understand." **she answered before snapping violently against the wall as if to say all of this conversation was useless. **"Just go find her and tell her you want her to come back!"**

"…And if I don't?" he tried, interested in how she would respond.

"**Then I hope you starve to death."**

His frown deepened. My, the hair had good insight. In the last few hours alone the dizzying effects of his sudden diet had increased to the point where he didn't even want to stand, and the prospect of searching out Yako on his own two feet was an idea he cared not to think about. However, trying to consider how long it would take to get food without bringing the girl back made him mentally shiver, and he would not consider trying to train a new puppet while in his current state.

He stood then, taking a moment to let the faint feeling disappear. Yes, Yako was certainly needed if he was going to eat in a timely manner. What to say, though, to make the empathetic puppet of his return.

He turned to Akane again, and asked just that.

"**You need her, right?"** the braid replied. He took a moment to consider that before nodding once. **"Then you already know what to say, don't you?"**

He stared at the animated hair before a smile adorned his features.

"…You're an excellent secretary, Akane. Remind me to force Yako to treat you when we return."

He could have sworn the hair was smiling as he left the office behind him.

He ended up outside of her house. Not at school, not at her favorite eating places, not answering her phone…she threw him on a wild goose chase until one of his Evil Friday eyes caught sight of her at home. What he glimpsed in that moment made his chest tighten uncomfortably again, but he passed it off as hunger pains. Now he stared up at the window of her room, the very room he had first approached her in, and for some unfathomable reason he could not move his feet to bring him inside.

"Hn…" he frowned in annoyance.

Eventually he did finally bring himself to enter the open window. It wasn't as simple as he had wished it to be, he realized as he had to pull himself over the balcony. He entered the room and took a seat on the bed. She would wander in at some point, which gave him a little time to think.

Or at least he thought it would give him a little time to think.

Yako chose that moment to open the door, as if ten seconds was far too much time to let him gather all that he was going to say for one last time. She froze immediately as soon as she laid eyes on him, and he watched her hand tighten on the doorknob until her knuckles turned white.

"What are you doing here, Neuro?"

And suddenly he didn't remember a word of what he rehearsed in his head, which made him open his mouth and close it again when nothing came out. Eventually the movement of her foot back toward the hallway got his mind working again.

"You thought you could leave without any word of where you would be for the next three days without someone coming to look for you?" he questioned, keeping her from leaving the room.

"What, you were worried about me or something?" she questioned darkly. "I thought human emotions were beneath you."

"They are," he said without thinking.

Yako turned toward the door just as he realized his mistake, and he quickly pushed himself off of the edge of the bed to catch her. She would not walk out on him once again. He refused to have to chase her anymore.

Unfortunately, his body seemed to have the same idea, but was much more adamant about starting to keep that mental promise now. He didn't even get a chance to reach for her as his vision wavered and he stumbled. The next thing he recognized was the feeling of her floor against his face. He figured the concept of catching himself had escaped him somehow. He couldn't quite bring himself to move just yet, so he closed his eyes to hurry along the process of regaining the ability to respond to what his brain wanted to do.

For a moment he forgot Yako was standing in the same room as him.

"Neu…ro?" she questioned somewhere above him. His lack of response brought her closer, until her felt her hand against his shoulder. "Neuro?"

He thought now was a good time to try to get back on his feet, or at least off of the ground. Yako said nothing more, but she helped guide him up with her hands until he was sitting on the floor next to her. Nothing was going as he had planned it in his head.

"…It would seem that I am in need of a meal," he said, closing his eyes again to the shifting of his vision. Yako said nothing, so he continued. "You are needed, Yako. Do you not realize that?"

He paused to take in the look on her face before capturing her gaze. She tried to look away, but he cupped her chin in his hand and forced her gaze back toward him. He gave her a long look.

"I need you," he said slowly, as if she would not understand otherwise. "I do not understand emotions, but you do, and I need you for that reason, Yako. Without you I cannot unlock the energies that I feed off of. In Hell these are much less complex. I'm not used to it, and I don't understand it."

Yako seemed to be taking this in, hanging on every word that came from his mouth if the glint of moisture in her eyes was any indication.

"I…I can attempt to consider your feelings more, Yako. Help me recognize them, and I will watch my tongue. Understood?"

She nodded, smiling, tears spilling over her cheeks.

"Why are you crying?" he questioned, releasing her from his grip. As much as he was curious, this was also an opportunity to test her willingness to cooperate with him.

"I-I'm happy," she explained. "Because you came to get me."

"I thought tears were for those in mourning."

"There are two kinds of tears, Neuro. They don't look different, but they come from different emotions. One is from being very sad, and the other from being very happy. These are happy tears," she elaborated, smile widening.

Neuro didn't honestly know what to think of the contradictions of the two extremes, but he nodded nonetheless. She was explaining, or attempting to, which meant she was following through. And he would follow through with his end of the bargain, so his mind quickly took note of it.

He found himself smiling until she stood up suddenly and grabbed a box from her bookshelf. She spilled the contents of it on the floor between them and set up the box so that they could easily see the picture indicated on it.

"You're starving, aren't you?" she asked, but didn't even pause to let him answer. "This isn't much. Actually, it probably is like a crumb for you, but it's a puzzle."

He stared at the pieces until he decided to pick one up and examine it more closely. Ah, it was one of those pictures you had to put back together after someone had taken the time to break it all apart. A picture puzzle, and Yako was trying to feed him with it.

He smiled.

"It may last ten minutes," he stated, indicating his appetite.

Yako smiled at him as she picked up a few pieces.

"Then the sooner we start, the sooner we can go to the office and find you a bigger mystery, ne?"

He snapped a piece in place.

"You're evolving, wood louse."

And they slowly put the pieces together on the floor.

* * *

**sorcerousfang: Yep. I thought it was cute. I don't think I'll remove it after I upload the real story, though, for the sake of keeping reviews. Oh, after tuesday, I'm free from school, so expect more updates around planning for my trip to Japan. Jya ne, everyone.**

**and just because I can...ひひょうして下さい！ (hihyou shite kudasai - Please review!)**


End file.
